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The Full Sized Jeeps - Wagoneer, Cherokee, Grand Wagoneer, J10 Truck and J20 Truck
1982 Wagoneer Limited with a 7 1/2" SOA lift on 33's in Sedona, AZ
1985 Jeep J20 3/4 ton truck stock in Wyoming
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I have been wheeling for over 30 years.
While the majority of my rigs have been Jeeps (probably 18 or so Jeeps, I had 10 at one time) I did loose my way 3 times and bought a Ram Charger, a Full Sized Bronco, and a full Sized Blazer -- all back in the 70s and 80s.
Since then it has been all Jeep.
Being from the east coast, most of my wheeling has been on hills and mud but 5 years ago I moved to Arizona.
Before that I made two trips to Moab, UT and I knew then that someday I would move West, find me a cowgirl, and spend my spare time wheeling.
Rock Crawling got boring and expensive after a while and it seemed that no matter how much money one would spend, you could always end up breaking the expensive stuff.
The southwest had so much to offer in history and trails.
There was more than rock crawling here, did anyone else feel the same way?
Well there were others like me and Jeep Expeditions was born in late 2006, although we really didn’t know it until after our 1st trip in 2007.
My current trail rig is a 1982 Jeep Wagoneer Limited.
Also referred to as the Jeep SJ or FSJ (Full Size Jeep).
Its big, its heavy and it gets lots of looks.
I call it the "War Wagon" (I like John Wayne movies) but my friends all call it "The Beast".
The beast pretty much goes where the little Jeeps go, only getting more AZ pinstriping.
And being 25 years old, it has its quirks but mile after mile the few "bugs" I have encountered are now fixed and gone........'til the next one shows up :-)
Full Sized Jeeps – The SJ models, the Jeep that started the SUV craze back in 1963 with the original Jeep Wagoneer which continued into production thru the 1991 model year with very few changes. These are the “tanks” of the Jeep world. A two part “Trucks” episode on Spike TV had Stacy David telling the world that the best vehicle for a “Bargain Beater” was the full sized Jeep Cherokee/Wagoneer. It beat out
the Bronco, the Blazer, the Dodge, even the CJ and Wrangler. Why? Because as Stacy said they are heavy duty, produced for nearly 30 years, are plentiful, roomy, have V8s, strong auto trannys, D44s front and back, AC and lots of options many of us like. They are also cheap, well they used to be, as
prices seem to go up every time they show those episodes in re-runs and they are easy and cheap to modify.
My very 1st FSJ was a 1979 Wagoneer Limited I bought in 1982 to pull my 28 foot trailer from Gettysburg, PA to Asseteague Island, MD several weekends each summer. The Wagoneer was comfortable, roomy and had the guts to pull the trailer. The bonus was that the full time 4x4 Quadratrac system made it a very capable luxury off-road yacht too and we spent many a summers driving up and down the beach on Asseteaque. It also came in handy during deer season too. I have seen stock Wagoneers on the trails of AZ and Moab and they do quite well in stock form for a number of reasons including the sure footed BW1339 Quadratrac on many of them and the longer wheelbase.
My 2nd FSJ was a 1979 Cherokee Chief that I bought on a whim in the early 80s. I was still young then and the 2 door model was an exact clone of my beloved Wagoneer with the exception of its 2 doors which made it less of the “old mans SUV”. While this also makes an excellent vehicle for explorations, the two door version is not nearly as convenient to reach things in the back seat from the outside and the 2 dr version has the same “short” doors as the front doors on the 4 dr version. The 2 dr version was the one they built up and modified on the program “Trucks”.
I owned a few more FSJs between then and now, a 90 Grand Wagoneer, a 77 “401” J-20 truck, an 82 J-10 truck and more recently sitting in my driveway an 85 J-20 truck, a 79 Cherokee Chief and “The Beast”, my 1982 Wagoneer Limited which started out stock and I built up to be my primary Expedition vehicle.
I bought “The Beast” from a family in Ruidoso, NM a resort town. It was a one owner, garage kept, rust free Jeep with low miles. The Jeep was kept at the family’s summer home there and driven when they were in town for family get a ways. The price was higher than I wanted to pay but ½ of what they were originally asking so I was satisfied with the purchase.
The price of gas was less than $2 a gallon back then and the 14mpg it got on the several hundred mile trip back to Phoenix was nothing less than expected.
Before I bought “The Beast” I had done lots of research on FSJs, building them up and had joined the IFSJA, AZFJSA, CFSJA, CAFSJA and even the DFSJO to see what they were all talking about and for suggestions and such. What a wealth of information !
I knew I wanted to lift it but I was not sure how high or the best way to do it, after all my only lifting and modifications to Jeeps so far had been to CJs, YJs and XJ/MJ models. Should I do a 6” suspension lift like on the truck episodes ? Six inch springs thought would give a stiff ride and limit articulation. What about a spring over, that would give me 6” or more of lift and keep my stock “flat” springs which on my YJ gave me great articulation. I also found that I needed 6” of lift to clear 33 inch tires without cutting out my body panels. But wait, my rear axle is already SOA from the factory what is that all about. Am I going to be stuck with 6” springs in the back ? So now I am asking more questions to my FSJ online groups and find a conversion called a front SOA with a rear shackle flip. I want to know more and I find out that the guys who specialize in this conversion are right here in AZ. So I contact TTsFabworks and just pound them with questions. Tad was very patient with me and helped me make up my mind.
The kit from TTs was very reasonably priced (just a few hundred dollars) and since Tad was close by was a great help in getting it installed. It took two days with all the cutting, grinding and welding but my Wag was looking good sitting high on the BFG Mudders. This was a great lift kit and so far cost 1/3 less than a stiff 6” spring lift but there was much more to do before it was road worthy. One thing for sure, I learned the good and the bad about SOA’s on my 92 YJ so I could do this one right the 1st time. Steering geometry was crucial to a safe highway ride so I decided on a cross over steering conversion which all told cost me about as much as the lift kit but I can drive down the freeway at 75mph and let go of the wheel and it tracks straight and true.
Now with the steering taken care of and the lift done (which included new shocks and brakelines) the next
item of business to take care of is the drive shafts and to modify the transmission crossmember/skid plate as the front driveshaft was just hanging on that, inches above the diff. Hunter Off-Road in Tempe did the mods to the crossmember and Dicks Driveshafts in Phoenix took care of the custom shafts. All of this now finished and installed it’s ready for its 1st Expedition, or is it ?
What will it take to finish off phase 1 and get the Beast looking like an official expedition rig. Bumpers and a roof rack. Back to TTsFabworks for one of their custom FSJ roof racks and Hunter Off-Road for some custom bumper work complete with winch and tow points in the front and then to StreetLegal in
Phoenix for a rear bumper/tire carrier for the rear. Now it looks ready for any trail and phase 1 is complete.
The Beast does its maiden voyage on the Devils Highway and other than a wire shorting out from being too close to the exhaust manifold, it did just fine. People were amazed by the size and good looks and there were lots of comments about the articulation of the front SOA rear shackle flip suspension mods.
On it’s second trip out to Canyon De Chelly we noticed some of the Beasts shortcomings. The wrong gear ratio and the need for lockers. Gearing was still the stock 2.73s. Fine for a stock rig but not good for climbing mountains and such. Also what we lacked in lockers we made up for in brute strength with wheelbase, horsepower and torque. Despite a successful trip, gears and lockers were on the board for phase 2.
A trip to one of the local gear experts and we were getting the Beast outfitted with Yukon 4.56 gears, a Detroit up front and an ARB out back. Those are the items that I just happened to find at bargain prices, after all this was supposed to be a budget build up just like on the Trucks program. Gears and lockers installed, we are now ready for the next trip, North Rim of the Grand Canyon.
On the trip for the Grand Canyon Expedition, we racked up well over 1500 miles total in just less than a week. The new gears were great for climbing hills but the gas mileage hit the basement. I probably should have taken my installers advice and gone with 4.10s but at least I am set up for 35s if I want to increase my tire size and cut my fenders a little. The altitudes played havoc intermittently with my factory carb but we managed to complete hundreds of miles of trails and make it back home just fine.
The next phase will be phase 4 and a complete change of drive train from motor to transfer case. Am figuring that a GM vortec with a 4 speed automatic would be a fine power plant for the Beast for reliability, gas mileage and even better HP and torque. The 4 speed auto will give me better highway gearing for them 4.56 gears.
All in all a Full Size Jeep in even a slightly modified form can make an excellent Expedition Rig for under $5000 with all of the phase 1 and phase 2 modifications including the original cost of the Jeep.
Phase 3 will run another $2500 or so with the sale of the existing engine and transmission to offset that cost somewhat.
To sum it up, a FSJ is well built on a full frame, and usually with D44s front and rear depending on the year. Some models (1980-1985) had AMC20HD rears in the back with factory 1 piece axles which some people would argue make a better set up than the stock D44. They often are loaded with options, have good power from the typical 360 V8, a long wheel base for a more pleasant ride and are roomy enough for the family and all your gear for a typical 4 day trip or longer.
This picture was taken in Sedona, Arizona July 2008
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